Governor gets it right on river issue

Quite a bit of correspondence has landed in our mailbox and numerous telephone calls received from readers in recent weeks criticizing us for bashing Republican elected officials for many of their recent shenanigans in the N.C. House, Senate and Governor's office, so today's editorial may come a bit of surprise to those folks.

We believe Gov. Pat McCrory made the right decision in declaring that the state should maintain ownership rights of the rivers within its borders and in continuing an ongoing legal battle with aluminum manufacturing company Alcoa Inc. over the use of the Yadkin River to create hydroelectric power.

Alcoa, which has operated dams on the river for decades, has been seeking state water quality certification from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, a necessary step in the company's efforts to obtain renewal of its federal license to continue operating the dams for another 50 years. In fact, a DENR official had recommended the state approve the certification, and it looked as though the company may have been on the verge of controlling of the waters of the Yadkin for another half century.

That is, until the McCrory administration stepped into the picture, filing a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Alcoa's claim of ownership of the riverbed - and its claim of the right to use of the waters above it. With the matter now in the court system, DENR has reversed course and denied the certification needed for Alcoa to move forward with its application for renewal of its license, effectively leaving it dead in the water - at least for now.

The water quality certification actually was issued in 2009, but was rescinded when state officials said they found internal communications indicated the company had not been totally forthcoming with information about potential pollution of the river downstream from the dams. Former Gov. Bev Perdue opposed Alcoa's efforts to maintain control of the Yadkin River during her administration, and now her Republican successor has agreed.

"The Yadkin River is a North Carolina river," McCrory says. "We should be able to use it for North Carolina water needs and to create North Carolina jobs. The benefits of the Yadkin River belong to North Carolina's people."

Indeed. The Yadkin River is among the Tar Heel State's longest, flowing some 215 miles from its headwaters in the northwestern mountains into the Pee Dee River of South Carolina. It supplies water to numerous N.C. communities, and it is a significant recreational resource, with a "paddle trail" following the river for 130 miles featuring campsites and boat launching areas.

The dams in question in this case were originally constructed in 1917 to provide power to an aluminum manufacturing operation in Stanly County that provided work for about 1,000 North Carolinians. That plant was shuttered in 2007, although the company has continued to operate the dams to generate electricity, making millions of dollars in profit annually by selling the power to commercial customers. And that's why Alcoa is not going to simply go along with the state's decision.

The company, which is based in Pittsburgh, has announced its plans to try to have the case moved from Wake County to the federal courts. "We believe this filing is flat-out wrong," says E. Ray Barham, Alcoa's relicensing manager. "Ownership of submerged lands is a question of federal law. (Alcoa) is confident in its ownership position and that it will be firmly established in court."

On the other hand, the nonprofit environment group Yadkin Riverkeeper, which has called for placing the river into public trust, is commending the McCrory administration for asking the courts to settle the matter. "The state has a legal obligation to find out who owns this important resource," says Dean Naujoks, group spokesman. "Alcoa had numerous opportunities to provide the proper deeds of ownership and put this whole issue to rest more than a year ago."

We will admit that we have not agreed with the governor on many occasions in the past few months. But on this matter, we see exactly eye-to-eye. Our state's public water resources are too valuable to be allowed to be considered the property of a lone private enterprise.

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Governor gets it right on river issue

Quite a bit of correspondence has landed in our mailbox and numerous telephone calls received from readers in recent weeks criticizing us for bashing Republican elected officials for many of their